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Genes' Sway Over IQ May Vary With Class
Study: Poor More Affected by Environment
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 2, 2003; Page A01
Back-to-school pop quiz: Why do poor children, and especially black poor
children, score lower on average than their middle-class and white
counterparts on IQ tests and other measures of cognitive performance?
It is an old and politically
sensitive question, and one that
has long fueled claims of racism. Get Your Degree Online
As highlighted in the controversial 1994 book "The Bell
Curve," studies have repeatedly found that people's genes --
and not their environment -- explain most of the differences
in IQ among individuals. That has led a few scholars to
advance the hotly disputed notion that minorities' lower
scores are evidence of genetic inferiority.
Now a groundbreaking study of the interaction among genes,
environment and IQ finds that the influence of genes on
intelligence is dependent on class. Genes do explain the
vast majority of IQ differences among children in wealthier
families, the new work shows. But environmental factors --
not genetic deficits -- explain IQ differences among poor
minorities.
The results suggest that early childhood assistance programs
such as Head Start can help the poor and are worthy of
public support. They also suggest that middle-class and
wealthy parents need not feel guilty if they don't purchase
the latest Lamaze mobile or other expensive gadgets that are
pitched as being so important to their children's
development.
More at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12059-2003Sep1.html
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